Idea's for crane slew ring design?

[ttoks]

I have just gotten back into lego, and my main interest is in crawler cranes at the moment, I have been modding my 42042, and it currently look's like this

I'm wanting to do a few more things with it, but a major limiting factor for it is the turntable used by lego as a slew ring, i'd like to make a larger and more ridgid slew ring, but i have no idea where to start, at this time the only parts i have to work with are two 42042 sets, and 42030 set and some parts left over from my childhood, but i can always get more if i need it!!

does anyone have any idea that will work for this?

[bonox]

There are a few examples, like Jennifer Clarks AC50 mobile crane, using a flat deck and small rubber tyred wheels to present a large bearing area. I've also seen an example somewhere using the hailfire droid wheels as a ring support.

You could also build an example like a real one - last photo, page 32 of this

http://www.defence.gov.au/id/_Master/docs/HammerHead/Reports/HHCHIPSupportdocument.pdf

for example.

[cheeze]

I use a 2mm needle thrust bearing on my crawler crane. I have an old technic turntable that keeps it all central. Something like this http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=161113406154&alt=web I know it's not genuine lego but it works for me

[ttoks]

I'm not worried about it being genuine or not, i play with lego for fun, not for purity, being that I am a welder and fabricator in the real world, one day i would love to build a working crawler crane from steel parts, but for now lego works well for me, thank you for the link cheeze!

[Saberwing40k]

I was browsing Shapeways looking for other turntables, but all of the Lego compatible ones are quite expensive. I'd recommend browsing around Brickshelf and Flickr to see what other people have come up with, because many people on this forum have run across this same problem.

[cheeze]

I know that jaaptechnic made one for huibs ltm11200. No stop mine seperate ng I used a a couple of 2x4 plate with holes and popped a long nut and bolt through the turntable to a 1x6 technic brick on its side with two nuts to stop it winding off when slewing.

[doug72]

Milan used this part as a turntable ring for his TC8 crane entry.

http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-round-brick-13-667-x-13-667-fabuland-hollowed-4750

[nerdsforprez]

There are many ideas for slewrings. Here is a bigger, more robust slewring I am building for a large, approx. 4,000 piece crawler crane I am working on. Simply type in crawler crane on brickshelf and you should have several great examples.

Edited December 23, 2015 by nerdsforprez